Andersen considers the history of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the development of the “legal opportunity structure” in the U.S. , and their impact on significant cases in the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement. She provides an in-depth analysis of sodomy-related cases in the periods leading up to Bowers vs. Hardwick [478 U.S. 186 (1986)], and then from Bowers to Lawrence v. Texas [539 U.S. 538 (2003)], and analyzes why the later case was successful when the earlier one had failed. She considers changes in the social milieu, the structure of the Supreme Court, and legal criticism of the Bowers decision that were all part of the “legal opportunity structure” that contributed to Lambda’s success in the Lawrence case. The later chapters of the book focus on anti-gay initiatives and same-sex marriage, and explore how the political landscape, or “political opportunity structure” may differ from the legal opportunity structure.